CARBON-MONOXIDE IN THE DEEP ATMOSPHERE OF VENUS

The cloud structure and minor constituent distributions in the deep atmosphere of Venus observed from the Galileo spacecraft offer fascinating insights into the properties of this little-explored region of the Earth's nearest planetary neighbour. The morphology and spatial variations seen in the main mass of clouds are remarkable, and suggest a powerful and diverse meteorology dominated by convection. Carbon monoxide is significantly more abundant at high northern latitudes than at low latitudes in either hemisphere; the possible reasons for this have important implications for the atmospheric general circulation and possibly for the extent of currently active volcanism. These are explored here using simple models